Hysteria sweeps through Diagon Alley in Orlando

This image released by Universal Orlando shows guests at Diagon Alley at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando, in Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday, July 9, 2014. For a second day in a row, visitors waited up to five hours to get on the ride, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, located in the new Diagon Alley section of Universal Studios. On Tuesday, July 8, on the first day Diagon Alley was open to the public, visitors waited for as long as seven hours. (AP Photo/Universal Orlandi, Sheri Lowen)

Adoration can do funny things to people. Waiting hours for a theme park ride that lasts mere minutes is one. Dressing in fully-lined Hogwarts cloak in 90-plus-degree heat is another. And scattering some of Harry Potter’s floo powder was probably the only way the Muggles could have moved quickly.

As expected, the crowds were massive and bookworm glasses were everywhere as visitors arrived early Tuesday for opening day of Diagon Alley, the Potter-themed expansion at Universal Studios in Orlando. Gates opened at 8 a.m. and by mid-morning, the wait to get into the park was at least two hours. At some point during the day, the wait for Diagon’s signature ride, the 3-D Escape from Gringotts, exceeded seven hours.

“It was just like a whole new experience,” Lauren Gay of Tampa told the Orlando Sentinel. An avid theme-park visitor, Gay, 33, described it as “nothing like anything we’ve ridden.” Her friend, Nikida Vaughn of St. Petersburg, said “If we could give it a standing ovation, we would.”

Diagon Alley is part two of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. What’s now called Hogsmeade opened four years ago with much the same hysteria. The Potter theme is now set across both Universal parks, with a Hogwarts Express train taking guests (with a two-park ticket) from London’s wizard shopping district, where Harry Potter buys his school supplies, to his school in Hogsmeade that opened in 2010 in the Islands of Adventure park.

For many people, that’s worth the wait.

The scoop on Harry:

• The Quidditch Cup World Final is going on, and among the people attending it are Harry Potter, 34, and old pals Hermione and Ron Weasley. Writing about them is gossip columnist Rita Skeeter. Okay, it is J.K. Rowling’s witty new short story on Pottermore.com.

• Number of minutes visitors waited to get into Diagon Alley. 120 Top reported wait in minutes (that’s 7.5 hours) for signature ride Escape From Gringotts, which lasts less than five minutes. A 30-minute narrated feature just before boarding might ease the pain. 450 Number of times #diagonalley was used on Twitter before 5 p.m. 10,325